Experiment with Social Media Deprivation (part 1)

Just before the start of this last weekend (2nd May), I made a possibly rash decision. I decided, for four days, 00:00 5th May - 23:59 8th May I would give up social media and potentially social contact (outside of work). The list of non-approved apps are in the below list and image

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram - missing from the image

Pinterest

Snapchat

LinkedIn

Swarm

Tumblr - missing from the image

WhatsApp - IM

Telegram - IM

Skype - IM, required for work, but will only be used for work

Why Am I Doing This?

Social media has become somewhat of an addiction for me, and I suspect countless other people. It's so easy to go onto Facebook and "Like" a post from Andrew, go to Twitter and "re-tweet" Al Murray's (FKUP) latest tweet on politicians, Pinterest for those new ideas and finally Snapchat for the all-important selfie.

I don't like the thought of being so attached to my phone. I use it to talk to people (text/IM/call), browse the internet, find solutions to my problems etc. That's all I want to use it for. Bite-sized chunks of my time used, rather than hours upon hours.

There's a gallery of images I found on Tumblr over the weekend, that also helps explain the smartphone era of people. It's a scary place, and I've seen some of these images in real-life. Hell, I used to be able to walk right by my ex-girlfriend in the street and give her a scare, because she hadn't seen me - she'd been too engrossed in her phone.

'#LookUpFromYourSmartphone'

Results so far

I'm already past the first day. I've been itching to touch the social media icons all day. Twitter and Tumblr are particularly hard for me to put down!

This is what crack-addicts must feel like. Still powering through.

Battery life has been greatly improved on my phone. Full day, 10 % charge at the end.